It is known to thread a lace through eyelets with or without grommets thereabout in opposite sides of a shoe or garment to open and close a portion of the shoe or garment. Often, there are multiple eyelets on each side of the shoe or garment and the lace is crossed between them from one, e.g., toe end of the eyelets in a method called lacing, but using the lace between a single pair of eyelets on opposite sides of a shoe or garment is considered lacing as used herein.
Such lacing is limited in appearance by that of the lace and limited in utility by matching the lengths of the laces to the number of eyelets of the shoe or garment and, in criss crossing, keeping the ends of the lace even, for example.
Therefore, Tricker U.S. Pat. No. 7,036,194 of May 2, 2006, Head GB Patent 657,958 of Oct. 3, 1951, and Gentry U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,439 of Mar. 29, 1988, for example, have proposed laces for extending between a single pair of eyelets on opposite sides of a shoe to vary the appearance and improve the utility of laces. These laces have not found wide acceptance, perhaps because their appearance is unusual and their structures difficult to use.